Chevy Tahoe Door Lock Problem

Comments

i had 2 of my door locks fixed this past January i had ask for all 4 to be changed but the dealer refused stating theyonly change the ones not working at the time. If the locks are clearly defective i did not understand why they did not fix problem completely. I called the dealer recently because SURPRISE another lock is broken and they stated i would have to pay $80 because my vehicle is 3 years olds and mileage. This would have never been an issue if they would corrected the problem in January(all 4 locks). I have yet to understand why they would not treated as a recall issue and corrected the problem then. Its apparent by all the complaints just on this website should have been a recall issue. i would appreciate GMC fixing all my locks as it should have been the first time.

My family owns 2 2008 Suburbans and a 2009 Tahoe, all 3 vehicles are overseas. I was not aware of this site untill today. A few months ago one of the Suburbans was involved in a small accident with a baby sitting in the back seat. Both rear doors had been acting up a few months before the accident and would sometimes remain locked. On that fateful day when the accident occurred we tried getting the baby out but both doors would not open, due to the number of people gathering around the accident scene (the accident occured in Africa) we panicked and ended up breaking the window in order to get the baby out. In the process the baby was injured. It was a terrible day for us. I had contacted GM in the USA a few weeks prior to the accident and was told there were no reports or recalls for faulty door locks. Interestingly, the second Suburban developed the same problems, I ended up ordering the locks from the USA and had them air freighted. Just this morning I got a call from my wife telling me that her 2009 Tahoe has the same problem. I went online and found this site. I have written GM and am so extremely furious and frustrated, I cannot comprehend that they would knowingly ignore such a major problem and design flaw. Had the vehicle caught fire during the accident we could have very well lost the baby due to the doors not unlocking. I defenitely think this calls for Legal action against GM, this is criminal on their part.

its obvoius to me that GM doesnt care about saftey. I've had my Yukon in for repairs of the door locks and a faulty airbag sensor (that cost me over $500.00) and then for a worn wire on the O2 sensor (another $200.00) and not one time did they do anything about the RECALL for the heated winddhield washer system that causes fires. Go figure, completely loosing faith in this company

I couldn't agree with you more. As you can see from this thread, this problem has undoubtedly affected thousands of people. GM is, as I have mentioned previously in this forum, being penny wise and pound foolish.

I suggest you contact the federal gov't: Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), an office within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). ODI conducts defect investigations.

The 2009 vehicle was bought from the Dealer abroad, I checked the carfax it went straight from Wilmigton, DE to the dealer.

The other 2 Suburbans were bought from a sub dealer. All 3 vehicles were brand new and none of them have more than 16k miles on the odo as of this date so they are practically new vehicles even after 3 years.

I appreciate your efforts to intervene in this matter but I believe GM is not seeing the bigger picture and the seriousness of this issue. There is a fundamental problem with the locks on hundreds of vehicles, this is something that should have been recalled a long time ago, whether the cars are in the USA or abroad should not make a difference. I might be emotional about this but I sincerely do not wish for anyone to have to break a window in order to get access to their child. What if someone finds themselves stuck on a railroad track and can't get their child out bcs the doors won't unlock? Please understand that this is a serious issue.

If you need further info on the vehicles I can email you the VIN numbers or any other details.

If you would please forward us the following information at socialmedia@gm.com, we will see what we can do:

Your name and contact informationThe last 8 digits of your VIN(s)Summary of the situation

We will likely have you try working with customer service for your region first if you're out of the country; if that doesn't progress, we'll forward the information to a contact we engage with when things don't to smoothly with regional service.

I just purchased this car and noticed that the rear passenger door lock does not lock when using the door lock button or with the keyless remote.

I started researching this and discovered that this seems to be a big problem with this year model. I guess I'm lucky that only 1 has failed.

At any rate, I was unable to determine if this is covered by some recall or if GM is reparing these even for cars that are no longer covered by factory warranty. So my question is will GM cover this or will I have to pay to have it repaired?

We can look into this further with you and your dealership if you like. Please contact us via email at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name and contact information, the last 8 of your VIN and mileage, the name of your dealer, and a recap of the situation).

New member here... I apologize for what appears to be a reply to a post. I meant this to be a new post.

My 09 Tahoe LT has 46,000 miles on it. Bought it a couple of years ago with 17k. I've had some nagging quality issues that have been addressed and repaired under warranty.

Today, for the 3rd or 4th time in the past 2 months, my driver door would not open from the inside when I put the car into park. The door handle would not open the door. However the fob locked and unlocked all doors... the door lock knob moved up and down fine on all doors. So I lowered the window, reached outside and manually pulled the handle to open the door.

If I was in an emergency situation, I don't know what I would have done sort of breaking the window.

With all the reports all over the web and many her about the failure of door locks, I do not understand why a safety recall has not been issued. I'm going to complain to the Feds to see if they have received complaints.

This is my 3rd Tahoe since 2002. A $55+ vehicle should NOT have this many consumer complaints without some sort of action for repair. I have not been pleased with the 09 Tahoe. I've had other annoyances with this veicle including starter failure in the dead of winter in upstate NY.

I really doubt I'll be buying a 4th Tahoe when I shop this spring. Love the size, power and towing capacity. But I need improvement on quality...

We're sorry to hear that you are dissatisfied with your Tahoe and that you're having these concerns with your door locks. If there was anything you wanted for us to check into with your dealership (we cannot make any guarantees up front of what the resolution would be), please email us at socialmedia@gm.com with more information (include your name and contact information, a brief recap of the situation, the last 8 digits of your VIN and mileage, and the name of your involved dealership).

I wouldn't waste my time going to GM or the dealer. I have a 2009 Tahoe and we just had our 3rd door lock stop working today. Chevy covered the first lock under warranty, but refused when the second lock failed 6 months later denying that there was a problem with the locks. We begged them to just replace all of them since it's clear that there's a problem with the locks and that they would all fail. Chevy customer service just told us that we didn't KNOW that the other 2 would fail and the dealer just nods their heads. Well as of today, it looks like we were right and we're going to be out another $280. I'm surprised that no one has filed a class action lawsuit. It would be a great investment and might help others with the same problem out. I'm betting some of us could get our money back for the lock repairs - I'm headed for $1,000 in repair bills not counting 3 or 4 hours a time sitting at the dealer!!!!

Hello all, I am new to this forum but not new to the issue. I have a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe with 88,000 miles that I bought new. Within 2 years of purchasing this vehicle I had 2 locks not working and now all 4 are bad according to the General Motors Dealership. Over the summer they agreed to pay for 50% of the repair however this is unacceptable seeing how there are many documented issues of this problem. The dealer even told me this is a major problem. I know 3 others that have 2008-2009 Tahoes that have had the same problem. It is uncomprehensable that they will not admit to faulty hardware. Those of us that have spent $45,000+ on a cars should not be having these problems. I have not even had mine for 4 years. My wife is currently in the market for a new car and this issue will seriously way on our decision to purchase a new Chevrolet unless they admit to the issue and fix it. Good luck to all of you that are seeking a resolution. I am not here to bad mouth Gm, I am here to shed light on this issue in hope General Motors will do the right thing and fix the faulty locks.

We're sorry to hear that you're having these concerns with your door locks. If you wanted for us to check into this further please don't hesitate to contact us at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name and contact information, the last 8 digits of your VIN and mileage, and the name of your involved dealership, as well as a brief summary of your situation).

I have a 2008 Avalanche LT, around 50,000 miles, both rear locks went out. I was searching for a possible problem, looks like I found the cause here. Hopefully GM will do the right thing and issue a recall.

If you haven't already, markfu14, be sure to email us at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name, contact information, the last 8 of your VIN, and a brief summary of the situation) so we can look into this further for you.

Hello Ian, We'd be happy to check into this further for you. Please email us more information at socialmedia@gm.com (including your name and contact information, the last 8 digits of your VIN, and a summary of the situation). Sarah, GM Customer Service

Trying to get GM to do anything while the government owns them is a joke. I have an 09 Suburban and all of my locks don't work. Local dealer wanted $95 bucks to "plug it in" and diagnose the problem. And then estimate of $300 for each. Really, I hope the ride gets stolen because we have to manually lock the doors all the time and miss one every once in a while. Oh wait the tail gate has no manual external lock (doesn't work always) I guess they can get it that way. GM ISSUE A RECALL!!! GM rep don't bother with contact me at "socialmedia@gm.com" I did that two years ago and filed a report with NTSB which at that time had over 5k in reports of this issue.

I was travelling and purchased a used 2008 Yukon Denali XL. It was a very nice one owner vehicle with 48k miles. It came with a 30 day, 1,000 dealer warranty for the GMC dealer whom I bought it from. But driving back home with it I had exceeded the 1k mile warranty within a few days.

After owning for 2 weeks the driver door lock started acting up. It was not until a few days ago that I figured out what was really going on. I locked it with the fob to continue some Christmas shopping after putting a zillion gifts in the back. But the lock failed to secure the driver door. Surprisingly no one stole all the presents and the lap top computer in my SUV, but you can imagine how livid I was upon my return from additional shopping to find the driver door unlocked.

After researching this issue on this site (and some others) it appears that GM will be facing lawsuits and bad press for their inadequate parts and refusal to repair them. I really wish I had purchased the Toyota Sequoia that I was also considering. At least Toyota understands that a recall can help your reputation.

Are you planning on getting this checked into with a dealership? If so, we're available to you. Please don't hesitate to contact us via email at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name and contact information, a brief summary of the situation, and the last 8 digits of your VIN).

Sarah,The email address you sent me to was no help at all. Here is the exact message I received back from them:

"I am sorry to hear of the door lock concern that you are having. Recalls are not issued by GM, they are released by NHSTA. Since your vehicle is outside of it's warranty I cannot garuantee cost assistance to fix your door locks. However, I would be happy to locate a dealership in your area for you to have your vehicle serviced.

AshleyGM Customer Assistance"

I am capable of finding a local dealer. That was never mentioned as the problem. The problem is the lack of support from GM to fix a know problem in their highest priced vehicles. GM is losing me as a costumer for life.

I encourage anyone reading this thread to stay away from all GM built trucks and SUV's from 2007-2009 as this is a common problem. A reputable manufacturer should never treat their customers this way. I remember Toyota replacing entire V6 engines in the mid 90's (in trucks & 4Runners) when they had a common engine problem. All these engines were replaced "out of warranty" at no cost to the owner.

It is correct that we cannot promise up front that we'll be able to assist in any way, and I'm sorry if contacting us via email only served to add to your frustrations. The dealership is where we have to start if you wanted for us to consider this further.

I have a 2008 Tahoe and I had to go to the dealer 9 TIMES for the same problem (Doors lock activators problems) 8 times during warranty and one time GM fix the problem to me for FREE (without the warranty on Dec 2012), BUT I wonder if GM is going to do a recall to all 2008 and 2009 TAHOE and SUBURBAN cars due to SAFETY ISSUE, because the doors remain OPEN while driving. This is my 3rd time I got a brand new Tahoe but this 2008 came with this door problems. WAITING FOR GM.

Please file a report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. I'm not sure what the magic number is but eventually the reports will exceed the amount and they will force GM to recall the vehicles and fix the latch problem. This issue is not only with 2008 and 2009 models, it has been going on for years.